Towel dispensing apparatus



Dec. 1937. R. e. BIRR TOWEL DISPENSING APPARATUS Original Filed April 8, 1935 II/Illllilll (I .II 1/114 1!! vii ll 41401;.vllllifirwllllti fnvemgar @1004 PH 6. fi/EE W, 1 W

Patented Dec. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES.

2,1 3,403 rower. DISPENSING APPARATUS Rudolph G. Birr, Lombard, Ill., assignor to, Steiner Sales Company, Salt Lake City, Utah, a corporation of Utah Original application April 8, 1935, Serial No.

15,271. Divided and this application November 1, 1935, Serial No. 47,855

8 Claims.

1o sponse to change in the amount of toweling.

Features of the invention include the operation of the towel supply indicating means by a bodily movable means, including a roll properly associated with the towel material, or in case of roll 15 j toweling, with the clean portion of the toweling,

or with the soiled portion thereof; along with all details of. construction; and along with all broader ideas of means inherent in the. disclosure.

This application is divisional of my copending 20 aggslication Serial Number 15,271 filed April 8,

Objects, features and advantages of the invention will be setforth in the description of the drawing forming a part of this application, and in said drawing 1 Figure 1 is a central vertical transverse section taken through the rolls, and supply chamber and illustrating one type'of towel dispensing mechanism with which the present invention is used;

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section of the upper part of the cabinet taken laterally of the.

supply chamber and illustrating the means for indicating the amount of the towel supply; and

Figures 3 and 4 are detail front views, viewed' as from line 4-4 of Figure 2, eliminating the cabinet doorbut showing in dot-and-dash lines the position of the aperture of the door through which the position of the slide is viewed.

The invention is embodied in a wall type of towel dispensing cabinet but is applicable to any type of cabinet wherein a bodily movable element moves as a result of change in the amount of the supply of toweling material, or wherein a supply or atakeup roll is used and wherein the shaft of one of these rolls changes position as a result of increase or decrease in the amount of toweling on the roll.

Referring to Figure 1, numeral l indicates the outer casingof the cabinet. This casing is provided with the usual door 2 and has in its bottom, at, the rear vertical wall, an elongated slot 3 upwardly through which the toweling is drawn to be connected to a soiled towelroll.

The front edge of the bottom 6 is spaced from the door 2 to form an elongated slot 4 through which the toweling passes to a point beneath the cabinet where it is in a position to be grasped by the user. Attached to the rear wall of. the casing is a bracket which forms part of means for smoothing out the soiled toweling before it reaches the soiled towel roll. Within the casing I is an element, referred to herein as a swing housing, and which constitutes a chamber within which'is housed the rolls and the toweling supply. The housing is formed by two. side plates ll (only one of which is shown) cross-connected at their lower portions by a plate having a vertical portion l3, a curved portion I4 and a horizontal portion l5. The latter portion forms thebottom of the swing chamber or housing, and provides a support for a roll of clean toweling IS. A second plate I! extends from the portion l3 and overlies and is spaced from the first plate and extends horizontally forwardly, as shown. The outer end of the plate is curved upwardly to lie between the feed and takeup rolls respectively indicated at It! and 20 both journaled in the plates II. It will be understood that in this type of cabinet, the roll 20 is driven by the roll l9 by means of a chain and sprocket, drive more orless diagrammatically indicated in dotted lines at 2| in Figure 2. The swing housing is pivoted by suitable means indicated at 22. It is understood that after the door 2 of the casing is opened,'the housing can be swung outwardly to facilitate removal of soiled toweling and intro- 1 duction of fresh toweling, as well as for adjusting the mechanism.

After introduction of the roll of clean'toweling Hi the endof the toweling is first engaged with the feed or measuring roll l9 which roll is fixed to'a'shaft 25 rotatably journaled in the plates I i. The toweling is then brought around a pinch roll 21, journaled in slots 28 of'the plates. The pinch roll operates by gravity in a well-known manner to press the toweling against the measuring roll to obtain. the proper frictional'contact to provide power for operating the takeup roll through the sprocket system I. The toweling is then brought downwardly through slot 4 and formed into a loop and is then brought'upwardly through slot 3 around a towel smoothing edge 30 of the plate l1, then around the bracket 5, thence around the smoothing rod 3i to the soiled towel roll 32. The trunnion-like portions of shaft 33 of the soiled towel roll are suitably guided in slots 34 in the side plates II, and the roll rests by gravity upon and is frictionally driven through the toweling thereon by the takeup roll 20. a

The above described mechanism is not claimed herein per se, but is representative of one structure which includes a roll 33 or equivalent bodily movable element associated with the towel material, and having journaling means capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to its rotative axis, and wherein the journaling means and its motion are utilized for controlling an indicator.

The foregoing constructions may be of any preferred form, the broad gist of this invention being the utilization of the journaling means of. an element which is responsive to changes in the towel supply, or which carries that supply, or which carries or takes up soiled toweling. The use of a portion of a shaft or of a trunnion to control the indicator has the advantage that the connection can be made at a point outside of the chamber which houses the mechanism and towel supply.

The journaling means includes shaft 33 or a pair of projecting pins equivalent to the shaft, and this means is held in slots 34 of the plates ll. Thus, the journaling elements can move, in this embodiment, in a direction away from the windup roll 20 as the amount of soiled toweling on the soiled towel roll 32 increases. In the present embodiment, there is also provided upon the outer side of plate ll, of the inner chamber, an operating lever 36 pivotally mounted as at 31 and having a forwardly extending portion 33, the end of which terminates ina bifurcation 39 operably received by a laterally extending lug 40 of an indicator slide 4i. This slide is mounted for vertical movement upon the outer side of one plate i l by means of screws 42 traversing an elongated slot 43 of the slide. At the opposite side of the pivot 31, the lever has an upwardly extending portion 48 having a curved cam surface 43, lying adjacent the slot 34 in which the end portions of the shaft 33 of the soiled towel roll 32 are guided or journaled. As shown in Figure 2, the cam surface 49 overlies the shaft 33 so that as the roll moves upwardly due to increase in the size of the soiled toweling, the upright portion 48 will be slowly moved to the left about the pivot 31 thus elevating the forked terminal 33, whereupon the slide will be correspondingly gradually moved.

The slide 4| is provided with a right-angled portion 50 and this angled portion is provided with suitable indicia which is visible to the attendant through an aperture 52 of the door 2. The door is also slotted as at 53 to allow the for ward part of the slide to project therethrough as shown in Figure 2, suflicient clearance being provided to allow free opening and closing of the door.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate one kind of indicating means including red color which is represented by lines 55. In Figure 3. the position of the sight aperture 52 is indicated by dot-anddash lines and here the colored portion lies just below the aperture, which position corresponds to a minimum amount of soiled towel on the roll 32, with a corresponding amount of clean toweling in the cabinet. The line defining the upper limit of the color area is curved to facilitate an estimation of the amount of towel supply.

Although the specific construction is claimed, it is understood that the invention is not entirely limited thereto because the indicating slide or other signaling or indicating means may be of different form, one of the important features of the invention being the connection or association of the indicator operating means with the shaft.

moves upwardly due to the increase in the diameter of the soiled toweling thereon, the slide 4| moves upwardly. In Figure 4, the slide has moved to a position (which corresponds to the dot-anddash line position of the slide in Figure 2) indicating that all of the clean toweling has been used, or that substantially all of the soiled toweling is on the roll. The indicating means in this position shows all red through the aperture 52, whereas heretofore red and white areas were visible through the aperture as defined by the aforementioned curved line.

The means for operating the takeup roll 20 bythe measuring roll l3 has only been somewhat diagrammatically indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2. It will, of course, be understood that when the feed roll is operated by a pull on the clean toweling, see Figure i, the takeup roll is operated and this can be accomplished by any suitable means known to the prior art.

The present inventionis applicable either to fabric toweling or to paper toweling in rolls, or to sheet toweling in separate sheets. In the latter instance, the roll 32 and its journaling means will be responsive to change in the amount of toweling material, due to operation of the feeding means, and the indicating means will be controlled by the journaling means.

I claim as my invention:

1. An apparatus for dispensing toweling including a roll havingtoweling thereon, journaling means for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to its rotative axis, means responsive to a towel dispensing operation including a rotative part which engages the toweling on the roll to drive the same through the toweling and with reference to which the journaling means moves in response to changes in the amount of toweling, indicating means, and a lever controlled by the journaling means and motion thereof to control the indicating means to indicate changes in the amount of toweling on the roll.

2. An apparatus for dispensing toweling including a roll having toweling thereon, journaling means for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to its rotative axis, means responsive to a towel dispensing operation including a rotative part which engages the toweling on the roll to drive the same through the toweling and with reference to which the journaling means moves in response to changes in the amount of toweling, an indicating slide, and a lever controlled by the journaling means and motions thereof to control the slide to indicate changes in the amount of toweling on the roll.

3. An apparatus for dispensing toweling material including a roll, journaling means for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the roll, said roll and its journaling means being responsive to a change in the amount of toweling material by movement in the direction aforesaid, indicating means and means con trolled by the journaling -means to indicate a change in the amount of toweling material, said means including a pivoted bell-crank lever having a cam surface operably engaged by the moving journaling means.

4. A towel dispensing apparatus including a cabinet having an opening an indicator slide opposed to the opening, means within the cabinet manually operable for dispensing toweling including a roll having journals so mounted that they move as a result of change in the diameter of the toweling on the roll, and a bell-crank lever having one arm controlled directly by the movement of one of said journals, and having the other arm operably connected with the slide.

,5. An apparatus for dispensing toweling material including, a roll, journaling means. for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to the roll axis, said roll and its journaling means being responsive to a change in the amount of toweling material by movement in the direction aforesaid, indicating means, and means controlled by the journaling means to cause said indicating means to move in response to change in the amount of toweling.

6. An apparatus for dispensing toweling material including, a roll, journaling means for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to the roll axis, said roll and its journaling means being responsive to a change in the amount of toweling material by movement in the direction aforesaid, indicating means, and means controlled .by the journaling means to cause said indicating means to move in response to change in the amount of toweling, said means including a piv- Y oted lever having one arm movable by the. moving journaling means and having the other arm operably engaging theindicating means to move it.

'7. An apparatus for dispensing toweling material including a roll, journaling means for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the roller, said roll and its journaling means being responsive to a change in the amount of toweling material by movement in the direction aforesaid, a door for said cabinet, having an opening, a slide mounted in the cabinet for translation and disposed for inspection through said opening. and a'lever pivoted within the cabinet and having one arm movable by the moving journaling means, and the other connected with the slide to move it.

8. An apparatus for dispensing toweling material including a roll, journallng means for the roll capable of motion in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the roller, said roll and its journaling means being responsive to a change in the amount of toweling material by movement in the direction aforesaid, a door for said cabinet hav- 1 'ing an opening, a slide mounted in the cabinet for translation and disposed for inspection through the opening, and a lever pivoted within the cabinet and having one arm movable by the moving journaling and the other provided with a. fork operably engaged with means on the slide to move the same.

' RUDOLPH G. BIRR. 

